Walking With God

Enoch walked with God. He didn’t walk ahead of Him, he didn’t walk behind Him…but He walked with God.

What does it mean to walk with God? I believe it means that we don’t get ahead of what God has in store for us and take steps according to our will because we get in ahead of His will for our lives. We can’t hear what God may be telling us when we are out way out ahead of His will. When this happens, we’re going to stumble. We know that God opens doors that no one can open and closes doors that are not good for us to walk through so if we are walking with God, we’ll go through the door with Him at the same time.

We can’t walk ahead of Him because He might not have the door open when we get there because we’re ahead of Him. If we walk behind God, we are still not following His will for our lives. We may be lagging behind and not going where He is going and intends for us to go. We may miss where He wants us to go and if He has opened a door for us, it might not be open when we finally get to it. Timing is everything.

Now to walk with God means to walk along side of God and this is pleasing to Him. When He opens a door, we can walk through it with Him. When we walk with God we can more easily talk with God and walking beside God helps to ensure we will be walking in the right direction and at the right pace…not too fast or not too slow. It’s better to be in step with God.

Besides, you can’t talk with someone behind you or talk with someone ahead of you. But next to someone, you can converse most easily. I can’t imagine taking a walk with my wife and being behind her or ahead of her. When we walk together, it shows that we are in agreement with each other.

Perhaps that explains why “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Gen 5:24). Walking with God means that we “do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4) and that frequently we must walk by “faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7b), and we are warned to “be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise” (Eph 5:15).

Paul urges us all to “join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us” (Phil 3:17). By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Heb 11:5